The Russian foreign minister stressed the attempts to externally manipulate the region’s processes, especially with the use of force, "ended up with the strengthening of international terrorism"

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Modern terrorism was largely triggered by erroneous actions of the West, which is recognized by both Russian and American analysts and current political leaders, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after Russian-American talks.

"As for terrorism and the origins of this terrible present-day threat, I do not even know if there is anything here to argue about," he said. "There are many analysts and political figures, including in the United States who admit that that terrorism was largely triggered by erroneous actions of the West in that region."

"I’m not even going to remember the Afghanistan campaign, when in order to confront the USSR, the United States in the 1980s actively contributed to the creation from the Mujahideen movement of an organization that subsequently became the notorious Al-Qaeda", Lavrov said. "And on September 11, 2001 this organization attacked the United States."

The Russian foreign minister said that later all the attempts to externally manipulate the region’s processes, especially with the use of force, "ended up with the strengthening of international terrorism".

"So it also happened after the invasion of Iraq," the minister added. "Because it is in Iraq where the people appeared in the middle of the past decade who took charge of the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia). We can also remember Libya that after the NATO intervention turned into a black hole from where weapons, militants were spreading over ten other countries, including Africa, not to mention Libya’s neighboring countries. And simultaneously it became a hole through which the criminal business of smuggling migrants was organized."

"So, we don’t want to blame anyone for this," Lavrov said. "These decisions, I’d like to repeat, are regarded as gross errors, including by many current US politicians."